


Ink and Unanswered Questions

by Callidostreet



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 2017, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Coping, Drabble, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Steter Secret Santa, Therapy, Trauma, Writing on the Body
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 09:10:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13163787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callidostreet/pseuds/Callidostreet
Summary: Talia was always covered in marks from her soulmate: reminders to feed the dog, interesting words-of-the-day, random stick doodles. They didn't meet face-to-face until middle school, but they'd known each other inside out long before then. When Peter is old enough to understand what the word 'soulmates' entails, he can't wait until he finds his."Are you there?" Is the first thing Peter writes on his body, his excitement is practically tangible.He won't get a reply for another 10 years.





	Ink and Unanswered Questions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [covarla](https://archiveofourown.org/users/covarla/gifts).



> this is for covarla for the steter secret santa. it turned into a short drabble, but I've had this idea forever and the words wrote themselves. Also, soulmate fic is my go-to for goodfeels and I'm so glad I got to write one for somebody

# Ink and Unanswered Questions

 

 _Are you there?_ Is the first thing Peter writes on his body, right above his right knee cap so his shorts will cover it. He waits all day for an answer and no reply signifies a small heartbreak. Soulmates are stupid, anyways.

He’s just graduated high school when he sees it: a mark on the inside of his forearm that wasn’t there before. His whole world shifts and it’s not because he’s got his diploma.

(There’s a part of him that wants so badly to answer; a part of him that knows it wasn’t his soulmate’s fault he hasn’t written anything until now. Pen in hand, the temptation to write under that messy scribble is greater than when he first wrote on himself. But what if? Haunts Peter’s thoughts, unwanted vultures consuming Peter’s resolve) Peter’s arm stays blank.

 _So we learned about soulmates today._ Comes about a week later. Peter stares at it for a long time. It’s sweltering this time of year and his AC is broken; he’ll have to call his landlord again. He stares at his bedroom ceiling.

There’s constant ink on him after that: doodles of animals, math equations, squiggly lines. _My name’s Stiles, what’s yours?_ Then comes scribbling of speculation for why Peter won’t answer: he’s blind, he can’t read, he’s an asshole, he hasn’t been born yet.

Nothing deters his soulmate; the scribbles continue. _I will wait for you._

He’s in his third year of law school when the scribbles stop. That more than anything has Peter reaching for a pen; he hadn’t realized the one-sided conversations meant too much to him. He wants to write _where did you go?_ And _don’t stop._ And _I love you._

But he doesn’t. This boy doesn’t know Peter. Can’t know him because Peter has never written back.

 _I need you._ The silence is finally broken after 151 days of unblemished skin. Peter finds he hates how his skin looks without words covering him. He hates even more that he can’t answer back.

But his soulmate is strong. Stronger than Peter will ever be because his soulmate comes back. He doesn’t write everyday, but usually when something major happens. _My dad hates me--I think I hate him too--I miss my mom--I’m in therapy now--I don’t know if I’ll make it through high school--I miss you even though I don’t know you._

Peter graduates and passes the Bar. He goes home for the first time since he left for college and celebrates on the full moon with his family. He’s never felt more alive then he does when he’s with Pack. The next day he’s dead tired and helping Talia by babysitting his nieces and nephew. He doesn’t realize until after he’s cleaned them up that the ink pens they were fighting over got on him too.

There’s no writing on him for two days.

 _Do you hate me too?_ Peter can’t breathe. He realizes that maybe his soulmate is broken just like he is. Maybe they’ll fit together after all, despite Peter’s jagged edges. But not if he can’t answer him this.

 _Never. I will never hate you._ It’s the second thing he’s written on his body. His heart is beating out of his chest for a reply which is ridiculous because he’s trying to console Stiles, not the other way around. This time, he doesn’t hold it against Stiles when he doesn’t reply.

He starts writing back to Stiles after that. Little things about his day and his family, when he decides to go to therapy, when he heads home to Beacon Hills. He finds out Stiles lives there too and yet Peter meets Stiles’s dad before he meets Stiles.

 _Your dad loves me._ Peter writes, expecting a trite answer.

_I do too._

Years later and there isn’t a day that goes by that Peter and Stiles don’t have _I love you I love you I love you_ all over their skin.


End file.
